Washington: On January 5, the multi-national company Amazon, citing the economic uncertainty, said that it would lay off over 18,000 employees from its workforce.
CEO Andy Jassy stated, “Between the reductions we made in November and the ones we’re sharing today; we plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles. Several teams are impacted; however, the majority of role eliminations are in our Amazon Stores and PXT organizations.”.
Adding to it, “S-team and I are deeply aware that these role eliminations are difficult for people, and we don’t take these decisions lightly or underestimate how much they might affect the lives of those who are impacted.”
Also, Amazon is working to support those affected by providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support.
The move comes after the technology giant said last year that it would reduce its headcount without putting a figure on how many jobs would be cut.
Jassy did not specify where affected employees were located, but he said the firm would communicate with organisations that represent employees “where applicable in Europe”.
He also said the “majority of role eliminations” would be in the Amazon Stores operations and its People, Experience, and Technology team.
Earlier, in November 2022, Amazon reduced staff size by approximately 10,000, especially in the Devices and Books businesses. It also announced a voluntary reduction offer for some employees in its People, Experience, and Technology (PXT) roles.
During the November layoff, the company indicated that there would be more role reductions in early 2023.
Explaining the rationale for the downsizing of the human resources, “This year’s review has been more difficult given the uncertain economy and that we’ve hired rapidly over the last several years,” the CEO added in the statement.
Starting from January 18, the company will communicate with impacted employees or (representative bodies for Europe).
Further, “Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so. These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure; however, I’m also optimistic that we’ll be inventive, resourceful, and scrappy in this time when we’re not hiring expansively and eliminating some roles,” said Jassy adding to her statement.
Recently, in December 2022, Big- tech companies like Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook also had been into layoffs; Meta confirmed cutting the layoffs up to 10 per cent due to the macroeconomic downturn; Twitter, since getting its new CEO, it has been a massive round of job firing in nearly in half of its global workforce, whereas Microsoft let go of its 1000 employees from various teams. Earlier, the company laid off almost 1800 employees in July 2022.
In November Facebook owner Meta announced that it would cut 13 per cent of its workforce. The first mass lay-offs in the social media firm’s history will result in 11,000 employees, from a worldwide headcount of 87,000, losing their jobs.
Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the cuts were “the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history”.
The news followed major layoffs at Twitter, which cut about half its staff after multi-billionaire Elon Musk bought the firm in October.
Another big tech Cloud-software company Salesforce is planning to fire 10 per cent of its total workforce amid the economic slowdown. Earlier in November, the company reportedly fired around a thousand employees.
(with inputs from ANI)
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